Way OT: Gastric bypass surgery

Dec 14, 2006 104 Replies

It sounds like you are sddressing MY overeating problem. If that's the case, you're dead wrong. (When I said morbid obesity was a mental health issue, I was speaking for myself, though I didn't say so in my original post.)

Once I passed 300 lbs I decided I was going to take the weight off. I had a year to go to my HS reunion and wanted to take off 100 lbs. I had always thought that I could do it. Simply eat less than I burn. For months, I was losing weight. About five months. Then I started eating way too much again. I tried like hell to stop but I couldn't. I don't really expect anyone who hasn't had this experience to believe me, because I wouldn't believe it if I had not experienced it. The desire to binge-eat junk food stays with me and it's like an intense itch. Eventually I have to scratch it, but when I do, as soon as there's a little more space in my stomach the itch comes back even stronger, and it seems so depressing to have to return to the state where I'm fighting this urge all the time. It's no way to live.

My overeating is a full-blown compulsion, and that's a mental health issue. The reason for your overeating, if you do overeat, is something I have neither the ability nor the right to analyze.

Cool. I wish him (and you) the best.

I have. It works better on some people than others. I'm one of the others.

Thanks, Natalie! Your understanding and support mean a lot to me. :-)

"That Guy" ...

Thanks!

Too bad there's no surgery for smoking cessation.

Natalie

Maybe you should get on Prozac or Xanax if it's a compulsion.

Guy a knew in college, well his family was kind of fat, and he definitely had the propensity to "blow up", and later did gain a ton of weight.

Anyway, his brother was 6'6" about 600-650 pounds. Saw a doctor about getting this "gastric bypass"...was told to lose 150 pounds first. Said to himself "if I could do that, why would I need bypass?". Anyway, he started doing a hand exercise thing..(couldn't walk really) just to burn calories. Eventually started walking, then walking to school (school teacher)...eventually lost 350 pounds in a couple years just by doing that. He was on Oprah Winfrey. You'd have to see the before an after pictures to appreciate it.

Anyway, maybe his story is not yours.

If all gastric bypass is is pain after eating which encourages you not to eat, why not hook yourself up to a shocker and shock yourself when you binge?

Plus that Mamma Cass daughter got it and later got fat again.

The surgery is insane, I'd skip it. There's got to be a better way.

Charlie Weiss of the NE Patriots / Notre Dame head coach had it and lost probably 200 pounds...has gained about 100 of it back.

Not so much "how much" but "what". You can eat a lot of veggies and still lose weight. I lot of fat people just won't lay-off the potato chips and other garbage foods.

Getting off your ass and exercising is important, too, of course...

Depends - some veggies contain quite a bit of no-no, believe it or not.

Natalie

Squash, for one.

Natalie

What's wrong with squash, cooked, we eat the stuff here. Lots of fiber. Macadamia nuts are real heavy.

" dbu," ,

Some things that have little or no fat have a lot of calories. Squash is one, meaning you can't eat all you want, but you can certainly eat a whole lot more of it than you can animal products.

Macadamias are not vegetables. :-)

Grapes have no fat, but have tons of calories, for instance. Just cuz it grows from the Earth, it doesn't mean you can stuff your face with it. Also not a vegetable, of course...

Natalie

Avocadoes, for example.

Heavy on calories & fat, for example? Yes, agreed. Or a veggie no-no? Nope; an avocado is a fruit.

Cathy

Ah, yes, as is a tomato..seeds inside, eh?

Yes, but people tend to think any plant is okay to gorge. Nope...

Natalie

Correct; even though neither is sweet - an attribute one tends to associate with fruits.

Tangential trivia: Tomatoes were originally grown in the US purely as an ornamental. T. Jefferson grew them at Monticello, but I can't remember if he was the one who introduced them here. Reason they were treated as an ornamental: they're in the nightshade family & their fruit was thought to be toxic; I _think_ the stems & leaves really are.

Cathy

Well, of course. No one gets addicted to vegetables. It's the greasy, salty and sweet stuff which trigger the addiction. Veggies don't satisfy the craving, though. It's like telling an alcoholic to drink water instead of alcohol, that way he'll solve his thirst without getting drunk. It won't work because he's not thirsty to begin with, he's after the drunk. With food addicts, they're not eating because they're hungry, they're after the high they get from eating high-calorie food. I've known people who were so addicted they went for years without ever feeling actual hunger. One individual, when on a binge, would only stop eating when the pain from being overstuffed became to great, then that person would wait 20 minutes until the pain subsided and eat more.

Seeds inside mean it's a fruit? So, squash and pumpkins are fruits too? Interesting.

It begins to get murky, since veggies can also contain fruits. I bet a lot (most?) people would classify a pumpkin as a fruit, yet squash as a vegetable - in this case, based on taste & use (sweet & dessert Vs. bland/savory & with main meal).

One which you prob. already know, but anyway... Which fruit which has its seeds on the outside? (strawberry)

Cathy

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